


Unexpected Reunions

by Linorien



Series: 007 Fest 2018 [11]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Kinda an experiment in perspective, Same universe as other fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 09:10:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15288273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linorien/pseuds/Linorien
Summary: The mission was going fine. Well, fine by 00 standards. And then someone chucked another wrench in the works. A whole bag of them. Know thine enemy indeed.





	Unexpected Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt table - Mexico

School reunions were awful. People you would rather have never seen again are suddenly in your face with their fancy job title and rose tinted memories of their time in uni. It was at a four star hotel with three star catering and old grudges were bound to resurface.

Or so he was told. Q had never gone.

But even that paled in comparison with the school reunion 004 had stumbled into. Far worse than meeting an old rival at a reunion or on a beach on holiday, 004 found out that the crime boss he had been sent to take down was his old rival.

He recognised the agent instantly.

“Callum Fairburn?”

His heart rate had increased very slightly.

“Terence McCallister,” 004 sneered back.

“What’s going on?” Q asked. “How do you know his name?” He looked around his branch but no one else seemed to know what was going on. He motioned to two of them to start searching the new name.

“Who would’ve known the Bryan Hall nerd would become a spy.”

“We all knew you would end up on the wrong side of the law,” 004 returned.

Q stopped paying much attention to the banter halfway across the world and instead returned to hacking into the satellites above Mexico for increased surveillance.

Half an hour later, 004 had scaled the wall of the complex and escaped over the rooftops. The security was giving chase on motorbikes and Q had his hands full opening locked doors and planning escape routes from the air. 004’s partner had been killed yesterday and there was no one else to serve as a distraction while 004 cut them off from behind. He was the center of attention and it was not his preferred mode of operation.

“Next right then a left through the pottery shop,” Q said. “Grab things from the shelves and throw them behind you when you’ve got a clear shot.”

“But that’s stealing!”

Q rolled his eyes. “For a double-oh you have a strange sense of morality.”

“I have a perfectly fine sense of morality, Q. You’ve just been warped by 007 having no moral code.”

Q watched his tracker dot enter the shop and run out the other side. “I assure you that my moral code was set years before I ever met that disaster.” He listened with concealed glee to the shattering of ceramics over the comms.

“Sir, 004 and Terence McCallister both graduated from the University of Stirling the same year.” One of the minions threw up a quick document to the small preview screen on Q’s work desk.

“I’m guessing you weren’t exactly friends with Terence,” Q said.

004 barked out a short laugh. “He was a prat. Think Bond but without the charm and actual skill to back up his claims. McCallister threw his money about to bribe anyone and everyone. Never done a hard day's work in his life. Is the hotel still safe?”

Q looked back at the branch and received a thumbs up. “Yes. As long as you shake them you can still return there.”

004 made it safely back to the hotel. The bodyguards were left running into each other down alleys and wondering where their prey had vanished to. 004 then opened up the secure port app on his Q branch tablet and connected the stolen usb.

Shara took charge of sorting through the files and her report wasn’t one of good news.

“It’s connected to another mission,” she began. “We don’t have an agent assigned yet because we hadn’t deemed it mission ready, but it’s the diamond smuggling ring.”

“The one we traced from Cairo?” Q asked, leaning back in his office chair and snagging another piece of pork with his chopsticks.

“That’s the one. We have proof here that MIRANDA is the organisation behind the ring.” She passed over her tablet.

Q scrolled quickly through the data while he chewed. “This is the one M wants us to quietly infiltrate and dismantle, correct?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Damn.” He handed the tablet back. “Bring it to Timothy and see if you two can figure out the best way to deal with both of these issues without too much mess. Report to me at 0800.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

 

Friday morning came and the best plan they had was to get inside the network and try to control all communications to the smuggling ring. With luck they could lead each link in the chain to think MIRANDA was still in business until the goods passed out of their hands and then the local authorities would be informed.

It would be difficult to say the least, one false step and the diamonds would be lost and all their research would go to waste. Also the world economy would suffer. There was that. First, 004 needed to get back inside.

Initial cover identity blown, he crafted a better disguise. The small bottle of hair dye and makeup changed the look of his face enough that he shouldn’t be recognised. It was still dark so getting in by scaling the walls would still be the way to go.

Q had just finished a quick meeting with another agent to give them their kit when 004 arrived on the roof of MIRANDA’s base.

“Which window, Q?” he asked.

“First go the the antenna on the roof and hold your phone near the box.”

004 walked quietly across the roof to the antenna and held his phone near the box marked AT&T. Q waited for the connection to be made and then sent a virus across the airwaves to monitor the connections. If all went smoothly, they could intercept any incoming or outgoing communications.

“All good. You want the third floor down and it’s the fifth window on the east side from the left as you are facing the building. I’ve disabled the security system so you should be fine.”

Q watched as the tracker dot moved slowly across the building roof and onto the wall. It would be slow going from here as 004 descended the stucco wall.

R came up to the front to speak with Q. “The new employee is stationed in agent support today. Initial reports suggest Systems to be the best fit. The budget report has been returned with far fewer red marks than usual so whatever trick you did worked.” Q grinned. His experiment went well then. “MI5 is requesting assistance tracking a new virus on their systems. Specifically they asked for Dana again.”

“Did Casey make the request?” Q asked.

R glanced down at her notes. “Yes, how did you know?”

“They started dating after the last time we lent out Dana.”

R raised her eyebrows. “I thought it was my job to know every personal detail?” she challenged.

“Better start brushing up. I don’t want to demote you to S,” he teased.

“You wouldn’t dare!” she gasped in mock horror. “Who would prepare your tea the way you like it?”

“I’ll just program the machine,” he deadpanned. It only lasted a few seconds before they both started laughing. The last time Q had tried that, the tea was boiling hot and had peppermint chunks at the bottom. It was still a mystery how that was even possible.

“If you’re done laughing,” 004 interrupted, “I’m in the server room.”

Q rolled his eyes, mouthing _so bossy_ at R before she returned to her own desk.

“You need to plug the usb into a computer and then it will run on it’s own.”

“Done. Can I proceed with part two or do you need me to stay here?” he asked.

“It should run on it’s own. Do you need directions to the kitchens?” Q asked, already bringing the blueprints back up on top of the screen monitoring the data download.

“I remember. Do you have eyes in the building?” 004 left the server room and started down the hall toward the stairs.

“I will soon. I’ll let you know if I see anyone near you.”

The line went quiet while the agent crept through the building, listening for voices. Q searched through the incoming data until he found the cctv controls. He looked through the different feeds, wishing his Spanish was better, until he found 004. He then tried his best to figure out the order of the other feeds in order to keep watch around him. It wasn’t easy, but things were falling into place.

It was going too well. Chaos struck.

“Q? The usb’s been unplugged,” one of the minions said. Q looked up and then brought up the window that had been covered. The download was stuck at 73%.

“Oh no.” He scrabbled to find the video feed of the server room.

“Q? What is it?” 004 whispered.

“Hurry up with the drug. You might need to get out fast,” Q said cagily. He found the cctv of the server room and swore.  Someone had removed the usb and was still at the computer, probably trying to see what had been tampered with. The virus didn’t leave a large trace, but the final sweep to remove all traces didn’t run until all the data was collected. There’s nothing he could do if the drive was yanked out.

“I take it I need to move faster?”

“If you’d be so kind,” Q replied, taking a sip of his thankfully still warm tea. “Someone removed the drive.”

“Well that’s a bit of an issue.” The tracker dot on 004 started moving faster.

Suddenly an explosion of light erupted in Q branch and an alarm started beeping. Q slammed his eyes shut and ducked his head to face the floor. People screamed and he waited until the light behind his eyelids dimmed to a normal intensity. When he looked up, his eyes immediately landed on Agent Elliot standing in the middle of the floor, holding a pen, and blinking rapidly.

He had taken one of the magnesium flares. And it had tripped the bomb detection systems.

“Q, what was that?” 004 asked.

“A trainee earning himself three months in Russian winter,” Q replied, the too calm voice betraying the anger simmering beneath. Trusting that 004 could continue to handle himself for a moment, Q switched desktops to bring up the floor plan of Q branch. He unerringly tapped the corresponding floor tile that Elliot was standing on. A jolt of electricity surged through the agent and brought him crashing to the ground.

Dana reached over and grabbed the pen from the agent’s hand and handed it to Eric who had come rushing in when he heard the alarm.

“Minions,” Q said softly. All eyes turned to him. “He needs a proper scolding and I’m busy. R, please take care of this mess.” He flapped his hand to indicate the agent, the alarms, and the current lockdown status of the branch. “I’ll be in my office.”

He grabbed his laptop, disconnecting it from his work desk monitors, and retreated into his rarely used office. He shut the door behind him just as the automatic alarm was silenced.

“Sleeping drug is in the water, heading back to the server room,” 004 reported.

“Hardly any supervision needed. What do you need me for?” Q joked, trying to push his anger at idiotic agents behind him to focus on the mission.

“Well I need someone to remind me how gravity is suppose to work when I’m busy scaling walls.”

“Watch out, someone’s about to turn the corner ahead of you,” Q warned.

004 slipped a dart out of his wrist band and held it to his mouth. The person hardly moved past the wall before they dropped to the floor and 004 carried on.

When he made it back to the server room, Q reminded him of the layout of the room.

“Three rows of computers in front of you, perpendicular to the door. The man is on the leftmost row, near the back. This is the same computer you put the drive into.” He paused, not knowing how much else 004 needed.

“Estimated distance?”

“Little over three meters from the door.”

“Copy that.” 004 Grabbed another poison dart and held it to his lips with one hand and placed the other on the door handle. A deep breath, then he flung open the door and shot the dart at the man. It hit him in the forehead, but wasn’t close enough to a vein to start acting fast enough.

004 leapt over the tables to tackle the man to the ground and stab another dart directly into his carotid artery. Satisfied that the man would remain unconscious, he picked up the usb and placed it back in the same port.

Q watched as the download progress bar flickered and resumed. Only a few minutes and 004 could safely leave the facility. The sleeping drug in the water would disable the compound long enough for the local authorities to sweep in and shut down the organisation with little work from MI6. They just had to make sure the data was collected first.

“I think maybe I should stand guard this time, Q.”

**Author's Note:**

> MIRANDA - Mega IRritating Armed N Dangerous Arsonists - courtesy of Sven


End file.
